to be annoyed with this charity

[ApocalypticBlackHorseman]

I just had a fund raising call for a charity raising money for a serious condition that one of my DCs has. The call went like this?

"May we ask you what made you support our charity?"

Me "My youngest has XXXX condition"

"Oh, I am sorry to hear that"

"We are trying to do some fund raising to raise awareness of how serious a condition it is as of children die from it each year and it can be very serious and be fatal"

FFS I know that.

I hung up on them. They should have people on the phones who don't spell it out to parents just how serious their child's illness is.

Rant over :(

Obviously wasn't actually listening to you. Thoughtless.

Can you block sales/ charity calls so that you don't have to hear anything like that again?

She was on auto pilot and just their to pay the bills so no empathy or real understanding. That was totally insensitive and she was an idiot to throw figures at you. There is some illness in my family and it shakes me to the bone when I have to listen to details like that unexpectedly from the TV or radio.

I hate those calls that are all friendly and then turn dry when you don't want to sign up for a Direct Debit. I reckon they are just worried about their work targets and not so much the cause.

Sorry to hear about your DC. This has upset you but you will feel better very soon I hope when you realise how thoughtless and stupid she was.

Sounds like someone who was following a prepared script rather than using their brain.

I presume you are not the only person who supports the charity because your family is affected. To save anyone else from the same experience, it might be good to contact the charity and tell them what happened, and suggest that they might want to make sure their telephone fundraisers have a bit of common sense sensitivity training.

I guess she had a script to read that she isn't allowed to deviate from, as is usual in call centres. You could try writing directly to the charity, telling them how upsetting the call was, they may consider rewording their script (or at least putting in a 'what to say if the person knows someone with the condition' clause!).

I'd contact the charity direct (they are probably using an agency to make the calls) They should have a script flow chart of some sort that says 'if they have a child with this' say 'blah blah blah' instead of 'bleh bleh bleh' . If they do have them the callers need to be reminded to use it.

YANBU.

If you have the energy, it's worth making a complaint.

I used to work in charity fundraising and this kind of thing really annoys me - I dealt with similar complaints.Basically the charity has employed people from a telesales background without giving them enough training about just how sensitive they have to be to the supporters they are calling and just how different it is to doing telesales! You should complain tothe charity if you weren't happy with the call as the individual is giving a good charity a bad name.

You should complain. That is awful and they should know what their staff are saying.

This happens to me a couple of times a week at least from different charities. I donate by direct debit to several charities who have clearly gone on to sell my number to the other charities. I then get begging calls from ones I don't donate to and begging calls to ones I do asking me to donate more money. I hate it it makes me wish I'd never bothered. I also have dcs with disabilities and their charity is always ringing me. I've asked then not to be they keep doing it. I've registered with the telephone preference service but still I get the calls! So frustrating. So I either get a new number or put up with it.

YANBU!